The Singing Ringing Tree Is An Sculpture With A Ghostly Sound

This is something that we’d like to see and hear in person: The Singing, Ringing Tree was designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu in 2006. It sits on a hill in Lancashire, England, and as the winds blow, the discordant steel pipes “play” the wind. From Wikipedia:

“Some of the pipes are primarily structural and aesthetic elements, while others have been cut across their width enabling the sound. The harmonic and singing qualities of the tree were produced by tuning the pipes according to their length by adding holes to the underside of each.”

The Singing Ringing Tree is aptly named. A 3-meter-tall, wind-powered musical sculpture made of galvanized steel pipes, it stands high above the English town of Burnley.

The pipes swirl to form the shape of a tree bent and blown by the wind, and produce an eerie, melodious hum as the constant wind on Crown Point drifts through them. The Singing Ringing Tree’s pipes are used for both aesthetic qualities as well as for tuning, with their sound varied according to length and added narrow slits on the underside of specific pipes. The sound produced by these twisted metal trees covers several octaves and is said to be simultaneously discordant and melancholy, and intensely beautiful.

Completed in 2006, the Tree was designed by award-winning architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu. The site at Burnley was once that of a re-diffusion transmission station, complete with a run-down brick building and unused telegraph lines. The station was dismantled and the lines cut down to be recycled, to make way for the Tree that was to stand out against the stark, rolling landscape of the Pennines.

In 2007, the sculpture won the National Award of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for architectural excellence.

The inspection of the above item was carried out on a very, blusterous windy and cold day. It was overcast with some sun occasionally breaking through. The views were breathtaking over Burnley and the nearby countryside.

After listening to the video above, what do you think? It seems there was a possible way to make the sound more peaceful and harmonious, but perhaps what the artist was trying to get across was a different kind of peace. Let us know what you think in the comments!